The Best We Could Do: Thi Bui & Thuy Linh Tu

Cosponsored by Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU and NYU Department of Art and Art Professions.

“Thi Bui’s stark, compelling memoir is about an ordinary family, but her story delivers the painful truth that most Vietnamese of the 20th century know in an utterly personal fashion—that history is found in the marrow of one’s bones, ready to be passed on through blood, through generations, through feelings. A book to break your heart and heal it.” —Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist

Celebrate the publication of the critically-acclaimed graphic novel The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir (Abrams, 2017) by NYU alum and debut author Thi Bui. Exploring the anguish of becoming a refugee and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of a family’s daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves in the US. Bui will be joined in conversation by Thuy Linh Tu (Department of Social & Cultural Analysis). A book signing and reception will follow.

Thi Bui is a writer, artist, and former public school teacher. She came to the US as a refugee in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, and continues to advocate for refugees and immigrants today.

Thuy Linh Tu is an Associate Professor at NYU, where she teaches and writes about race, culture, aesthetic labor, and increasingly about Vietnam.